


or we could think about rain

by pharmakon



Series: Steven Universe [3]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, Hope, Terraforming, vague knowledge of ecology and climate science
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-04
Updated: 2018-09-04
Packaged: 2019-07-06 18:43:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15891846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pharmakon/pseuds/pharmakon
Summary: Peridot frowned up at the barren cliffs of the Kindergarten. "According to your civilization's laws of ecological succession," she announced, "sunflowers were not an optimal choice for returning organic life to the Kindergarten. Instead, a symbiotic relation between single-celled organisms and fungi known as lichen is necessary. So, that's what we're going to put here.""I'm lichen this plan," Steven said with a grin, and Amethyst groaned and shoved him. Lapis stepped away from their rough-housing and looked up at the clear skies with a pensive expression."It's been 5000 years already," she said. "How do we know this'll work, if it hasn't happened naturally by now?"





	or we could think about rain

**Author's Note:**

> Another little idea. This is set some vague time after Reunited and with all the Homeworld stuff somehow sorted out, by the way.

Peridot frowned up at the barren cliffs of the Kindergarten. "According to your civilization's laws of ecological succession," she announced, "sunflowers were not an optimal choice for returning organic life to the Kindergarten. Instead, a symbiotic relation between single-celled organisms and fungi known as _lichen_  is necessary. So, that's what we're going to put here."

"I'm lichen this plan," Steven said with a grin, and Amethyst groaned and shoved him. Lapis stepped away from their rough-housing and looked up at the clear skies with a pensive expression.

"It's been 5000 years already," she said. "How do we know this'll work, if it hasn't happened naturally by now?"

"That's why Steven's here," Amethyst pointed out. "Weird plant powers, right?"

"Hopefully it'll go better this time," Steven said sheepishly. Another plant army, even if they'd gone peaceful in the end, was the last thing they needed right now.

Lapis smiled faintly at him, then shrugged. "Well, I'm willing to give it a try."

"Great!" Peridot pulled up a screen from her new limb enhancers (thanks, Yellow Diamond) and tapped in a command. "According to my calculations, the lichen with the best chances of surviving here is..." She motioned with her hand; Lapis rolled her eyes and handed her a rock with lichen on it. "Wow, thanks! It's this one."

Steven and Amethyst made appreciative noises. "We were thinking you could help make it stick to one of these rocks," Lapis said to Steven. "If it manages to colonize it successfully, we can see about applying it to the rest of the Kindergarten. Hopefully that'll give us some good soil to work with." She thought for a second. "It might take a few millennia, but we think it's doable."

"I'll try my best!" Steven said, looking around for a good boulder. He trotted over to a promising hunk of rock. "How's this one?"

Peridot scrutinized it. "A little close to the cliffs, but not a bad location," she said, scanning what Steven was pretty sure was the mineral composition. "A little too much iron, but. It's adequate."

Steven took the rock from her carefully and frowned in contemplation. "Here goes nothing," he said. He licked the lichen and shoved the rock onto the boulder.

He couldn't stop himself from making a face at the taste. Dirt and fungus, ugh. Maybe he should have licked his hand and used that instead. 

They waited for a moment, but nothing happened. The rock slid slowly down the side of the boulder and plopped to the ground with a puff of dust.

"Huh," Amethyst said, poking it with her foot. "Maybe it is just plants."

Steven shrugged and stepped back. "Maybe we just need to approach this from a different angle," he suggested. "Uh, Peridot? What did you say lichen is, again?"

"It's a symbiotic relationship between a fungus and either photosynthetic bacteria or algae," Peridot said, glaring at the boulder like it had personally insulted her. "It's supposed to break rock down into fertile soil. It should only take a few thousand years!"

"It could be the climate conditions of the Kindergarten," Lapis Lazuli said with a faint frown. At Steven's surprised glance she said, "What? I was a terraformer too."

Oh, yeah. Steven had forgotten about that. Weren't all Lapis Lazulis made with terraforming in mind?

"Maybe it needs things more wet?" Steven asked. "Like, I don't know about Mom's moss or other magical plants, but a lot of stuff like that needs water, right? I know algae does."

"Makes sense," Amethyst agreed. "It, like, hardly ever rains here. Maybe that's why nothing grows."

"Hmm." Lapis glanced up at the clear blue sky. A faint wind blew through the Kindergarten, tugging at the edges of her skirt. Steven took a moment to admire the star adorning the edge, grinning a little at how far Lapis had come. It was hard to see the gem who'd begged them to surrender to Homeworld in _this_  Lapis, who stood straight and thoughtlessly calm. He could understand what she meant, now, that she was made for terraforming. She had the same easy confidence of Pearl when she danced, or Peridot when she messed around with gem tech-- the confidence of someone in her element. "Y'know, I think I could make things a bit wetter around here." She smirked.

Amethyst screwed up her nose. "How do you plan on doing that? It's not like there's a lot of water around here." She motioned around them at the barren landscape. "There's not even _plants_."

Peridot sniffed. "There's always condensation," she pointed out. "I mean-- haven't you ever seen a Lapis Lazuli change the weather?"

"You can do that?" Steven turned to Lapis, starry-eyed.

"Sure. I mean, it's all water." Lapis squinted up at the sun. "You might want to take cover under something."

Steven, Amethyst, and Peridot scurried for cover under an outcropping, and Lapis kept her chin tilted up at the sky. Her blue hands fell loose at her sides; her eyes went lidded and tranquil. She took a breath, water condensing at her fingers, and raised her hands up in the air.

At first there wasn't any noticeable change; the sky stayed clear, and the wind stayed faint. But as Steven watched, the world grew a little bit darker, and he looked up to see a thin, wispy cloud passing over the sun. The air felt warm and humid against Steven's skin. It smelled like ozone. "It's meteorology," Lapis called over the rising winds. Her eyes were tight with focus. "Warm, moist air rises and hits cooler air above, and a storm develops. All I have to do is provide the first step."

The sky darkened for real then, cooling into a dark gray as clouds gathered and thickened above the Kindergarten. Peridot hissed, "This is so _cool_!" and clutched at Steven's arm, and he grinned in amazement. Lapis Lazuli, standing at the center of a forming storm cell, opened her eyes and grinned back at them. For another moment the air was thick with condensation, and then the rain started to fall.

Steven watched Lapis as the rain hit her and slicked down her dress and hair-- watched her grin and her rare, cheerful bounce. And then she blinked, turning to look at something, and Steven followed her gaze.

The boulder they'd chosen earlier was being consumed, slowly but surely, by the lichen. Steven gasped excitedly and darted out into the rain, stopping just before it to stare as the lichen continued to spread. If he concentrated, he could feel every little tendril of its body, inching into the rock and wearing it down. Ecological succession-- and soon the boulder could be reduced to soil, and the first hardy plants could begin to grow...

"Whoa," Amethyst breathed beside him. She reached out to touch the lichen, and a little tendril climbed onto her hand. She flicked it onto the ground, where it continued to spread. "That's pretty cool."

"It's amazing," Steven told her, full to the brim with happiness. "It's-- _life_ , in a Kindergarten!"

"Yeah," Amethyst murmured. "Y'know, it's hard to believe anything could've brought life back to this place after Homeworld sucked it dry. But I guess gem magic can do a lot."

Steven looked over to Lapis and Peridot, dancing and twirling around in the pouring rain. Two Homeworld gems, terraformers whose only purpose had been to take resources and to destroy, bringing life to a desolate wasteland. Bringing lichen, the first step of a long slow repair, and helping it grow.

A long, slow repair. And if gems could destroy something, gems could fix it just as easily, couldn't they?

Maybe Earth was just the beginning. Maybe someday, far in the future, Homeworld's purpose could go from destruction to creation. A whole race of immortal beings, dedicated to love instead of war. Hope bubbled up in Steven's belly.

" _Gems_  can do a lot," Steven corrected Amethyst. Rain slicked his hair down and ran into his eyes, puddled at his feet. It tasted like living things. "All of us, together. We can do pretty much anything."

 


End file.
